A DOCTOR has turned to Facebook to tell of a lifetime of let-downs at the hands of ferry firm CalMac.

Morna Piper’s open letter to the state-owned firm had been viewed almost 8000 times in 24 hours by yesterday morning, getting 1400 likes.

The mum of two, who was brought up on the isle of Colonsay and returns to see family and friends, says in her letter: “You don’t know me CalMac but I know you, all too well... Over the last 34 years you appear to have made it your mission to ruin my life.”

Morna says that cancellations, disruptions and technical faults on the Colonsay-Oban ferry have affected occasions such as family funerals, weddings and holidays.

She says CalMac have left travellers stranded by diverting the ferry without warning and dropping families off late at night at ports miles from where they had booked to go to.

She adds: “Let’s talk about the time you sailed to within shouting distance of Colonsay, before deciding you wouldn’t even attempt to get into the pier.

“It would have been nice if you’d taken me back to Oban though, instead of depositing me, my husband and our two small children in Port Askaig (on Islay) at 10pm on a Saturday, with nowhere to stay.

“It would have been nice if you’d helped us find the incredibly expensive hotel we had to book into, maybe got us a discount, or even offered to pay.

“It would have been nice if you hadn’t taken us to Kennacraig the next morning and left us to make our own way back to Oban.”

Blasting the company for leaving mourners worrying whether they would make it to a funeral, she said: “My great aunt died and there were 50 people waiting at the pier in Oban for a boat that might or might not take us to the funeral.

“Meanwhile two boats came and went, taking passengers to the other, more important islands while my father wondered if he could postpone the funeral.”

Morna added: “This is a heavily subsidised service for which you tendered. You said you could provide this service and you lied.”

Gavin Clark, who runs The Pantry restaurant in Colonsay, said islanders were delighted Morna had highlighted the problem.

He said new ferries were urgently needed and added that about 70 per cent of planned Saturday sailings serving Colonsay were being cancelled.

He added: “There were 180 people on board on Easter Friday. It turned back due to weather but it was only blowing 30 knots.”

CalMac managing director Martin Dorchester said: “We are genuinely sorry whenever bad weather or technical issues lead to the cancellation of a sailing as we recognise the importance of our services to every community we serve including Colonsay.

“We would absolutely refute the assertion that we do not care.

“It is worth noting that out of nearly 135,000 sailings in the last 12 months, 0.4 per cent or 535 sailings were cancelled for technical reasons.

“When cancellations do occur we do everything we can to minimise the impact of disruptions as speedily as possible.

“When we say we’re sorry we really do mean it.”

Transport Scotland said: “The Scottish Government are continuing to invest in new vessels and ferry infrastructure to renew the fleet, bringing newer and more resilient vessels that should reduce problems.”

Try your hand at our daily news quiz:

Question -1 of 5Score -0 of 0

On which radio show did David Cameron get angry with teenagers asking him questions?